Centurion Test: Proteas ask India to field first

ANI  |  Centurion [South Africa] 

have won the toss and asked to bowl first in the penultimate second Test of the three-match series at the Park here on Saturday.

Following the toss, Indian said, "No-brainer, we'd have batted as well. There seems to be a lot lesser grass.

Day one first session is always tough for the batsmen but we wanted to take that challenge. We have a forced change."

du Plessis, on the other hand, said that the Centurion pitch looks a bit up and down, adding that they are expecting a big fight from India

As far as Playing XI is concerned, the visiting side have made three changes.

Parthiv Patel has been included into the squad to replace Wriddhiman Saha, who is out with a hamstring niggle.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Ishant Sharma have been named to replace Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, respectively.

For South Africa, uncapped fast bowler will make his Test debut after veteran pacer was ruled out due to a

After slumping to a moral-sapping 72-run defeat in the opening Test in to go down 0-1 in the series, will look to bounce back to keep themselves alive in the series.

The world number one Test side will look to win this match if they want to become the first side in history to get to ten Test series win in a row with a victory over

Meanwhile, have also never managed to win a Test series on South African soil for the past 25 years. Their best result came during the 2010-11 series, which drew 1-1.

South Africa, on the other hand, are riding high on confidence after their splendid outing in and will aim to wrap the three-match Test series when they head into the second match.

It should be noted that had enjoyed a winning spree at Centurion like no other venue across this country with 17 wins and just two defeats.

Playing XI: Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma.

Playing XI: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, du Plessis(c), Quinton de Kock(wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungisani Ngidi, Morne Morkel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, January 13 2018. 13:35 IST